It is good you are here Greg. From the horses mouth etc
Discerning The Past
To discern the past the meditator begins by making an offering
of either candles, flowers, or incense at a pagoda or in front of a
Buddha image and making a wish to be reborn as a monk, nun,
man, woman, deva or whatever he would like to become.
Then he goes and sit in meditation and develops concentration
and then discerns in turn mentality and matter that is internal and
external. This is important for if the meditator cannot discern
external mentality and matter he will have great difficulty discerning
mentality and matter in the past. This is because of the similarity
of external mentality and matter and past mentality and matter.
Then the meditator tries to discern the mentality and matter that
occurred at the time of making the offering at the pagoda or buddha
image as if they were an external object. He should find that while
doing this an image of himself at that time of offering appears.
Then he discerns the four elements in that image.
I have to say it is different from how I look to understand dependent origination…Mind you it is the present rather than past that is my interest.
No there isn’t a Part 2 as I left and disrobed and never finished the part 2 and been wandering around samsara doing other things for nearly 30 years now. So that is all I was able to produce at that time. Everytime I have met Pa Auk Sayadaw he always asks me to translate his big book that took him 10 years to write and I tell him it would take me 10 years to translate it. In my heart I don’t think more complexity makes things easier. So I keep it simple. There were 7 small books which meditators at pa auk used as they practised. This part 1 is based on one or two of those. So there is a lot more to go. But for me personally that was enough. If I had enough samadhi to be able to do all the stuff in book part 1 I would then move onto the rest. But my own practice led me down a different path. So it is all an open question to me and I continue my journey using what is appropriate to me in my own life. Such is life.
Although Pa Auk Sayadaw is now known internationally, Greg believes he was the first Westerner to ever meet and study with him, even rooming with him for a full year.
Greg spends a lot of time talking about what a fascinating figure Pa Auk is. On the one hand, the great monk is quite orthodox in his approach. His system is directly grounded in the Pāḷi Cannon and Commentaries, in particular the Visudhimagga, more so than any other contemporary tradition. On the other hand, Pa Auk was also considered very radical because his teaching implicitly calls into question not only the validity of the Mahasi approach—the major meditation tradition in contemporary Burma—but pretty much all other traditions as well; many monks rejected him outright or ignored him completely. Senior teachers at Panditarama and Mahasi refused to even read Pa Auk’s books, and the press (then controlled by the government, which itself was linked to the Mahasi tradition) wouldn’t even publish them! And yet because Pa Auk was so extremely learned and gifted with a photographic memory, he always got the better of anyone who tried to dispute with him about his teachings.
Greg explains that early on, Pa Auk was quite influenced by the Four Elements meditation of Than Lyin Sayadaw and the ānāpāna practice of Kanni Sayadaw. Pa Auk also learned the Mahasi technique, but was ultimately not satisfied and went off to sit and study on his own for many years. When he emerged again, he had woven together his complex but well-integrated system. Although he used to stress Four Elements meditation first, Pa Auk first teaches ānāpāna now, with an emphasis on developing strong samādhi, which is then used as a springboard for Four Elements meditation and other insight practices. Greg says that Pa Auk has a rigorous perspective on what it takes to attain even the first stage of enlightenment, including, for example, the need to directly experience the workings of karma in all three time scales of the paticcasamuppada.
All very interesting. Also the mention of all the other well known teachers you met including Ajarn Chah and Mahasi sayadaw. More details on any of them and any experiences would be hugely appreciated by our members I am sure.
I was interviewed by insight myanmar as well.
He paired me with half of the podcast and the other with thabbawara sayadaw, but it looked like I was connected to him.
I asked to be deleted and he did.
My reasons have nothing to do with Insight Myanmar or their integrity or ability. I would recommend all their podcasts that are out there and I wish I had the time to listen to more. The interviews are a fantastic and honest resource on Myanmar Buddhism.
